Aulani Villas & Views -- REVISED 07/22/2017

[moonlightgraham]

Sorry if this is OT -- I tried to create a thread asking this question in two spots and no answers.

We're BLT owners and are thinking about trying to book a DVC stay at Aulani at the seven month window over Christmas break 2015. Do we have any chance of finding availability at that time, or is the 11-month window really required to snag Christmas break?

Any thoughts/experiences would be very much appreciated!

I know it's not the same but I recently booked at the 7-month window for Easter/spring break and had pretty much all unit types available. I settled on a 2br ocean view. I booked right at 8am on the first day of the window but even a week later, and even today, there were/are units so I think you have a decent shot.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I know it's not the same but I recently booked at the 7-month window for Easter/spring break and had pretty much all unit types available. I settled on a 2br ocean view. I booked right at 8am on the first day of the window but even a week later, and even today, there were/are units so I think you have a decent shot.

Oh, wow! That does give me hope! Thanks so much!!

 

[abdmom]

I'm an Aulani owner. I purchased in 2010 and have been watching Christmas/New Year's since then. I did a booking at 8 months out for this New Year's. Christmas and New Year's seem to be the most popular times. I couldn't get a room for January 1 at 8 months out. Everything between Dec. 24 and January 2 goes quite quickly at the 11 month window.

 

[wdrl]

We arrived at Aulani on Sunday, 10/05, and our villa was ready when we checked in just before 9:00 AM. We had requested a villa on a high floor overlooking the Waikolohe Valley and that is what we got. We are in villa #1154 (Ocean View Studio), which is in the Ewa Phase 1 wing.

I learned something new: I prefer studios with angled balconies compared to those with non-angled balconies. In our last trip, we were in villa #304, which has an angled balcony. Those studios have more room around the bed, which allows them to have large nightstands on both sides of the bed. Our current villa with the non angled balcony has only one nightstand. The opposite side of the bed is quite close to the wall, just like the studios at SSR and BLT.

I'll post some photos comparing to two layouts in the next day or so (maybe). Since we've been at Aulani I haven't been motivated to spend much time on my laptop.

I've been posting occasional photos to my Twitter feed (wdrl2). If anyone has questions, let me know and I'll try to answer.

 

[Anal Annie]

We arrived at Aulani on Sunday, 10/05, and our villa was ready when we checked in just before 9:00 AM. We had requested a villa on a high floor overlooking the Waikolohe Valley and that is what we got. We are in villa #1154 (Ocean View Studio), which is in the Ewa Phase 1 wing.

I learned something new: I prefer studios with angled balconies compared to those with non-angled balconies. In our last trip, we were in villa #304, which has an angled balcony. Those studios have more room around the bed, which allows them to have large nightstands on both sides of the bed. Our current villa with the non angled balcony has only one nightstand. The opposite side of the bed is quite close to the wall, just like the studios at SSR and BLT.

I'll post some photos comparing to two layouts in the next day or so (maybe). Since we've been at Aulani I haven't been motivated to spend much time on my laptop.

I've been posting occasional photos to my Twitter feed (wdrl2). If anyone has questions, let me know and I'll try to answer.

Have fun!! Glad you are finally there and got your room request. We had a straight balcony in our studio too - I thought there was probably more room in those ones for the pullout sofa (which I'm assuming you're not using but which we DID for DS).

I also hate that there's only 1 nightstand in the studios - we've never had more than 1 anywhere that I can remember. They are often on "DH's side" of the bed. That's the way it was for us at Aulani too. So when we were at Aulani I improvised by taking the trash can for the main part of the room out of the fancy outer liner can - then I turned the outer liner can upside down and put it beside the bed to use so I could use it to reach stuff rather than putting everything on the floor where I couldn't reach any of it. The trash can was still perfectly usable - it just didn't look so fancy on the outside. But I always keep a travel clock (so when I get up in the middle of the night I know what time it is + when we set an alarm I'm the one who gets up first), a bottle of water, chap stick and hand lotion by the bed + I have to lay my glasses down somewhere. It was all a pretty tight fit on the bottom of the trash can but it worked. Better than nothing anyway.

Enjoy your week!!

 

[Anal Annie]

I know it's not the same but I recently booked at the 7-month window for Easter/spring break and had pretty much all unit types available. I settled on a 2br ocean view. I booked right at 8am on the first day of the window but even a week later, and even today, there were/are units so I think you have a decent shot.

We momentarily considered spring break for this past year but ultimately decided to pass on that time because with the 6 hour time difference and travel to / from the east coast we would only have had 7 nights to go. That + the airfare was ridiculous & the points higher so we decided to wait for summer when we'd have more time and not need as many points. But the resort had several openings even a couple of weeks after the 7 month window for that time. I'm sure limited time to go & expense is part of the reason that spring break is not quite as busy / in demand as Christmas & New Years. I suspect that Christmas break is harder to get….

 

[drmrchk]

We booked over NYE back in February and we had a hard time getting rooms. I figure anything is worth a shot though

This is our first time going -- I found a great blog post about a NYE party Aulani did on the beach in 2012. Does anyone know if that's an annual thing?

 

[wdrl]

Here are some photos of Villa #1154, an Ocean View Studio located in the Ewa Building Phase 1.

We got into our villa just after 9:00 AM, which meant that the Waikolohe Valley was still partially in shade:

Looking down from our balcony, we could see Mickey greeting guests at the character breakfast at the Makahiki Restaurant. In the evening, this area is the outdoor seating area for the O'lelo Room, which offers live entertainment and very good appetizers:

Since we face west, we have a bit of a sunset view:

We have an item usually not found in DVC villas: A step stool, which comes in handy for short people trying to use the microwave or upper cabinets above the kitchenette:

The studio kitchenette comes with a toaster, 4-cup coffee maker, and a 48-oz electric tea kettle:

As I mentioned in my prior post, the Ewa Building Phase 1 villas have non-angled balconies, resulting in slightly different furniture configuration than the studios with the angled balconies. The biggest difference is that the non-angled studios like #1154 only have one nightstand. When we were in Villa #304 during our last trip we had two nightstands. We prefer having two nightstands, although our traveling companions didn't seem to mind.

Villa #1154 . . .

. . . with typical tight space between the bed and the wall:

Villa #304:

Next time we come I'm going to request a villa with an angled balcony (Waianae Building or the Long Wing of the Ewa Building Phase 3.

A Cast Member said the resort was about 80% occupied, and the pool area fills up very quickly in the mornings. From our balcony we can see people claiming pool chairs before 7:00 AM., but there are still some non-prime chairs available past 9:00 AM. However, the Wailani Adult Pool area rarely fills up. We have gone to the Wailani after 8:00 AM to find only two or three guests in the entire area. Today, half the chairs were still available when we left at noon to eat some lunch. Here is a photo taken around 9:30 AM. At the same time, the Waikolohe Pool and Ka Make Landing areas were filled with guests.

Yesterday, we did a Sunset cruise off the west coast of O'ahu and had great views of the sunset and the full moon rising over O'ahu. As a bonus we got to see some spinner dolphins.

More later!

 

[SingingMom]

I felt like I needed the step stool to climb into bed!

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[jerseygal]

Thanks for posting! BEAUTIFUL view! ENJOY your vaca!

 

[drmrchk]

Thanks for the shots!!! What sunset cruise did you do? How was it?

 

[wdrl]

Thanks for the shots!!! What sunset cruise did you do? How was it?

We did the Ko Olina Coast Sunset Cocktail Cruise and we arranged the excursion through Holoholo Travel & Tours here at Aulani. We had stopped by the Holoholo desk and asked the representative for some general information about tours and excursions that can be arranged by guests staying at Aulani. Also, my sister is planning to visit Aulani in June 2015 and asked me to find out if Aulani offered day trips to the Big Island to see the volcanoes (they do).

Our cruise was an enjoyable two-hour boat ride off the west coast of O'ahu. The tour included transportation from Aulani up the coast to the marina at Waianea. We then boarded a catamaran that sailed up the coast to the northwest point of O'ahu. We had appetizers on board, two free cocktails (actually, we were offered more), plus free sodas and juices. We had a great sunset, then we watched the full moon rise over O'ahu. We also saw spinner dolphins. We'll be posting photos when we get around to doing our trip report. BTW, the cost of the cruise was $79/pp.

 

[nicolers1]

Hey all,

We are headed to Aulani in 2 weeks for our honeymoon and we're wondering what the best ocean view rooms might be if we're looking for some quiet with our beautiful view. I don't really want to hear the people in lazy river or the slide

Thanks,
Nic

 

[wdrl]

Hey all,

We are headed to Aulani in 2 weeks for our honeymoon and we're wondering what the best ocean view rooms might be if we're looking for some quiet with our beautiful view. I don't really want to hear the people in lazy river or the slide

Thanks,
Nic

All the villa facing the Waikolohe Valley will probably be more noisy then you prefer. Thus, you will want to rule out the even-numbered villas in the Waianae Building (xx02-xx12), the Ewa Building Phase 1 (xx50-xx58), and the Long Wing of the Ewa Building Phase 3 (xx70-xx86).

That will leave you with a couple of areas that have Ocean View villas that don't overlook Waikolohe Valley. The even-numbered villas in the Short Wing of the Ewa Building Phase (xx60-xx68) and the odd-numbered villas in the Waianae Building (xx03-xx13). Of these two, the latter is a bit less desirable because the JW Marriott takes up some of the views of the ocean.

There is also a small pocket of Ocean View villas with odd-numbers in the Long Wing of the Ewa Building Phase 3 and their views are somewhat like those in XX60-xx68).

Keep in mind that the Aulani villas have very good sound proofing. We are currently in villa #1154 overlooking Waikolohe Valley and when we close our balcony door it blocks out a lot of the noise from the Valley.

 

[drmrchk]

Wow, thank you!!! Sounds super fun!! Was it kid friendly or adults only? Nice to know we can decide on it when we gt there!

We did the Ko Olina Coast Sunset Cocktail Cruise and we arranged the excursion through Holoholo Travel & Tours here at Aulani. We had stopped by the Holoholo desk and asked the representative for some general information about tours and excursions that can be arranged by guests staying at Aulani. Also, my sister is planning to visit Aulani in June 2015 and asked me to find out if Aulani offered day trips to the Big Island to see the volcanoes (they do).

Our cruise was an enjoyable two-hour boat ride off the west coast of O'ahu. The tour included transportation from Aulani up the coast to the marina at Waianea. We then boarded a catamaran that sailed up the coast to the northwest point of O'ahu. We had appetizers on board, two free cocktails (actually, we were offered more), plus free sodas and juices. We had a great sunset, then we watched the full moon rise over O'ahu. We also saw spinner dolphins. We'll be posting photos when we get around to doing our trip report. BTW, the cost of the cruise was $79/pp.

 

[minniqt7]

Just returned today from Aulani. Amazing Awesome Resort BUT.... I wanted to make you aware of our situation on room assignment. I decided NOT to request too much as I have read both negative and positive about doing that so I requested only upper floor. Well I did get that but we reserved a 1 bedroon ocean view and we got Ewa #1283. It definitely should NOT be considered Ocean View in my OP. Room #1281 right next door is an Island View so we paid considerably more points for the Exact same view albeit it was beautiful. Didn't ruin the trip but felt some dissapointment. So my advice is to request more specific what you want. The resort is pure paradise. Look for a trip and tip report soon.

 

[wdrl]

Wow, thank you!!! Sounds super fun!! Was it kid friendly or adults only? Nice to know we can decide on it when we gt there!

There were a couple of kids on our cruise. The catamaran could probably hold 80 or so people but our cruise had only about 25. The Holoholo rep said its "slow" season right now so she didn't think it would be crowded. Its much busier during the holidays and when whales are in the area.

 

[JessLCH]

I finally figured out how to post pics. Here are a few of the view from our 2 bedroom dedicated ocean view balcony room 1074, where we stayed in late August, 2014:

 

[JessLCH]

Another view from 1074, looking to the right:

 

[JessLCH]

Last view from 1074, looking straight across: